Kenneth N. Waltz interprete di Rousseau e la teoria contemporanea delle Relazioni Internazionali

Kenneth Waltz's interpretation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's social and political thought, which tends to regard the latter basically as a forerunner of the neorealist structuralism, is still prevalent in the International Relations theory. This article argues that Waltz's reading of Rousseau is in some (important) respects flawed. To begin with, according to Rousseau's "structuralism", while anarchy in itself (ie the state of nature) is not a source of conflict, the "systemic" factor which does generate the war of all against all is society. Moreover, Rousseau's "structuralism" is intertwined with a "first image" contention (the tension between the amour-de-soi and the amour-propre in the mind of every man living in a society) which Waltz fails to take into consideration. Indeed, in Rousseau's view, men's pursuit of prestige and social consideration (amour-propre), even to the point of putting in jeopardy their lives and physical well-being (amour-de-soi), is the true "cause" of social conflict, which calls into question the approaches to the study of politics, such as the neorealism, which posit that self-preservation and security are the overriding interests of the actors in the international arena.